Son of René Joseph Bouvet de Précourt, a captain in the service of the French East India Company and of the French Royal Navy under Suffren, François Joseph Bouvet went to sea at the age of twelve with his father aboard the Villevault in 1765. In 1780, Bouvet served in the East Indies in the famous campaign of 1781–83 under the command of Suffren. He was promoted to lieutenant (Lieutenant de vaisseau) in 1785.

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